On the Job 

As the Bureau of Criminal Investigation continues to make its way through untested rape kits as part of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative, Gov. John Kasich signed House Bill 6 to extend the statute of limitations for prosecution of sexual assault cases.
 
The 20-year statute of limitations has been extended to 25 years. If DNA evidence links a suspect to an attack after 25 years have passed, the bill also adds another five years for possible prosecution after the DNA link is made.
 
“This new law is another way to show victims of sexual assault that Ohio is serious about bringing their attackers to justice. As our Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative has shown, sexual assaults that occurred years ago can be solved with DNA evidence. I applaud Gov. Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly for enacting this crucial law supporting both law enforcement and victims,” DeWine said.
 
The Attorney General launched his initiative in 2011 after learning that dozens of law enforcement agencies throughout the state were in possession of rape kits -- some of which were decades old -- that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing.
 
As of Sept. 1, 198 law enforcement agencies had submitted 10,764 kits to be tested as part of the initiative. Forensic scientists with BCI had completed testing on 8,416 of those kits, resulting in 3,121 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).